Museum Residence Oxford

We didn’t have much space in our room, though that was fine since we only used it to sleep and rest. The bed was super comfortable, and the coffee machine made better coffee and hot chocolate than you can get in town. The location was superb too.

Being right in the centre was the one good thing about this stay. The room wasn’t especially clean and had a smell, and there was hardly anywhere to put things: no drawers or shelves for folded clothes or underwear, only a hanging rack. There was no hand soap or bathroom shelf for toiletries. The bathroom drawers were dirty and the shower holder wobbled. Kettles in both the room and dining room were covered in limescale. In the common room fridge, previous guests had left several expired items, and dirty dishes had sat in the dishwasher for days. The bedroom was noisy at night because a huge engine or ventilator vibrated and kept switching on and off. Even with earplugs, I heard it and was woken whenever it started again. The electricity went off twice. Outside, the entrance alley has very little light after dark, and the stairs up to the rooms are narrow and uneven. There was no staff around. Maintenance, housekeeping, and attention to guest comfort were all lacking.

The room itself was clean and had some nice touches, with a pleasant bathroom and a good mix of rustic and contemporary style. The communal canteen was useful too, with a fridge, cooking facilities and tables. But there were several letdowns, so I’m giving it three stars. The shower drain was partly blocked, and the tray filled up like a bath. A blind on one of the roof windows had come off its runners and wouldn’t work; the main window blind was broken, so the room stayed dark. The stairwell and corridors had a musty smell. The entrance is down an alley where people gather at night, which I imagine some guests might find intimidating. I was told by email that check-in instructions would arrive on the morning of our booking, but they didn’t. I called the number in the email three times and got no answer. The instructions eventually came in the afternoon. Since we live three hours away, the delay wasn’t ideal, and the unanswered calls made me wonder how easy it would be to reach someone if there were a problem. The whole place felt more like an Airbnb than a hotel, which was fine, but I’ll probably not come back.

Some things were nice, but there was a fair bit of neglect. The bedside light didn’t work, the sink plug was broken, and anything we put in the fridge froze because we couldn’t find a way to turn it down. The bathroom towel rail got so hot it burned you, and the room became sweaty if you stayed in there more than a few minutes.